Yves Weinand

Markus Hudert

TIMBERFABRIC
APPLYING TEXTILE PRINCIPLES
ON A BUILDING SCALE

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 Markus Hudert, Textile opposite bottom, below
Module, EPFL IBOIS, 2008 and bottom: Braided arch.
opposite top: Model of the Textile Top, perspective and front
Module. The Textile Module acts view of braided arch based
as unit cell for different kinds of on the Textile Module.
Timberfabric structures.

Timber is coming to the fore as a contemporary construction material.

Not only sustainable, its suppleness, adaptability and strength make it
highly attractive for experimental designers. Yves Weinand founded the
interdisciplinary timberfabric research project at IBOIS, the Laboratory for
Timber Fabric, at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in
order to fully explore innovative timber construction techniques. Here Yves
Weinand and Markus Hudert describe the Textile Module, which Hudert
developed, in order to investigate timber’s ability for ‘social behaviour’, or
greater structural strength, once woven into a textile-like form.

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 Practical and material orientated academic research has determine an ultimate load-bearing capacity. While exposed to
become increasingly important for architectural practice, due to an increasing load, its elasticity enabled it to perform dramatic
several factors. First, it contributes to contemporary concepts deformation and to evade its destruction. The ability of a
in architecture and improves their implementation. Today’s structure to adapt to a load is a highly interesting property that
architects are looking for a deeper understanding of technical will be subject to further investigations in the future.
and technological questions related to architecture: technology, Textiles have yet another quality that is of relevance for
construction methods and structural considerations are no building structures. They are composed of a multitude of yarn
longer seen as merely bothersome necessities, as was often elements that work cooperatively together as one entity. In this
the case in the past. The importance of such aspects and the kind of ‘social behaviour’, in the case of failure of the weakest
potential of including them as active stimuli in the architectural element this will not provoke the collapse of the structure as a
design process are largely recognised. It is the limitations in time whole since the load of the weakest element will be carried by
and capacities that more often than not confound the realisation those adjacent to it. The implication is that structures using the
of such ambitions. Academic research can fill this gap and same principle will have a higher security factor than that of
provide architectural practices with the necessary resources. traditional ones.
Second, research has a duty to address one of the biggest An entity composed of a multitude of elements offers
architectural challenges of our time; namely, how to achieve further possibilities. Differentiated repetition of the basic
sustainable building. Society’s burgeoning awareness of the elements can create an immense number of variations of the
urgent need to use renewable materials for building construction total structure and each one of them can be optimised. Thus
is an undeniable reality and has become an important parameter it can be expected that the generation of novel structures with
for architectural production. As a result, timber constructions highly specific performance profiles, characterised by lightness
experience a new popularity and the importance of research and robustness in an equal manner, will be feasible.
on timber has increased. The potential of this field becomes
evident with some of its latest developments and innovations. The Textile Module
Cross-laminated timber panels open up new dimensions for It is obvious that the basic unit of the repeating structure is
massive timber construction and prefabrication in context essential for the development of structural timber fabrics. Here,
with the digital chain. Technologies such as wood welding and the Timberfabric research currently focuses on the application
the densification of wood create new possibilities not only for of the Textile Module, the geometry of which is generated by
architecture but also for furniture and product design. Timber interbraiding two planar timber panels. The use of a particular
as a building material is therefore capable of satisfying both the technique of assembly, y, together with the specific material
demands of contemporary architecture and the requirements of properties, leads towards structurally efficient construct.
wards a str
sustainable building. Here, a major difference
rence to common
c contemporary processes of
The Timberfabric research project pursues an architectural production
uction and form generation becomes evident.
interdisciplinary approach and links the three domains of Commonly, digital processes are used to inform seamless
al processe
architecture, structural engineering and timber construction. virtual matter, whose properties have no relation to those of
hose prop
The research opens the way to a new era of innovative timber real materials. Physical m matter is treated as a passive compound,
constructions and timber construction techniques. It initiates a mere means to an end, and form is obtruded upon it. The
an unprecedented exploration and study of timber-related influence of scale
cale upon material properties is ignored.
structures, their structural analysis and how the principles of In contrast
ast to this, the strategy applied here of treating
textiles can be applied to their design. material, formal
rmal and structural
s aspects on the same level
The inherent characteristics of wood present an important is likely to produce exceptional
ex structural solutions. While
precondition for this undertaking. It can be classified as both the focus of these st studies applies specifically to timber, they
ies applie
a soft and viscous material, with suppleness as one of its should also so give incentives
inc ntives to the
th use of other materials
properties. Both wood and fabrics can be seen as fibre-based and applications.
ications. The
T e material’s
material physical properties are
tissues, which makes for an interesting investigation of the considered d as an aactive parameter of the design process. This
ive param
analogy between micro-scale fibre structures and timber-derived consideration also underlines the importance of physical
wooden structures on multiple levels. modelling within this research.
resear Standard software is currently
Wood is basically composed of a multitude of cellulose not able to simulate material behaviour such as elastic
ate materi
fibres. The fibres are flexible, allowing for respectively elastic deformation, butt the development
deve of software that can do
deformation. Until now, the capacity for producing curved so is an essentialal step in connecting
c the Textile Module with
glued-laminated timber beams has not led to a broader digital planningg and production.
pro Inputs from mathematics and
application of this property for timber, but in fact the mechanical engineering
ngineering are necessary to successfully execute
implications are profound. Indeed, timber has the dual capacities
apacities this part of thehe work.
to be formed and to retain a given form. The application n of
textile principles in the context of timber construction creates Structural Analysis
a fascinating association of intrinsically contrasting physical
hysical Mathematical
ical and mmechanical engineering inputs are also
conditions. Traditionally, building structures have striven
iven for required for the structural analysis of building-scale timberr
rigidity whereas textiles embody the properties of elasticity
asticity fabric. A stage of preliminary investigations is thus necessary.
sary.
and suppleness. It is of more than anecdotal interest st that, for In order to establish proper analytical models of such
one of the first Timberfabric prototypes, it was impossible
mpossible tto structures, a clear understanding of their geometry is required.
red
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Markus Hudert, Timberfabric Markus Hudert, Different
prototype based on the Textile configurations of Timberfabric
Module, EPFL IBOIS, 2009 EPFL IBOIS, 2008
left: The Textile Module canan be below: Different configurations
combined in many different nt ways. of Timberfabric. Structural
In this version, two layerss of timber fabrics are composed of a
braided arches are superimposed,
erimposed, multitude of small, interconnected
augmenting the structuralral height structural elements. Such
and enabling indirect lighting.
ighting. structures, based on iterative
elements, exhibit ‘social
behaviour’. The failure of one
or several basic elements does
not provoke the collapse of
the structure as a whole, since
elements adjacent to the failed
ones take over their load. As a
consequence it can be expected
that structural timber fabrics
have a higher security factor than
traditional structures.

105
 Architectural production over the
past decade has been marked by
a strong affection for the image.
The seductive aesthetics of digital
architectural modelling and
visualisation have often dominated
over attention towards materiality
and building construction.

Markus Hudert, Timberfabric top: Assembly process of the

prototype with interacting warps Textile Module. The geometry is
and wefts, EPFL IBOIS, 2008 generated by using the process
above and opposite: Warps and of braiding as an assembly
wefts. Several braided arches technique. The correlation of
interact with elements in the technique, material and form
perpendicular direction. In textile make it a coherent object.
terms, this woven structure
incorporates warps and wefts.

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In general, the intention is to use initially plane timber panels behaviours have been observed, such as an increase of the
as the starting material. During the process of assembly these rigidity of a given woven section while applying a load to it.
become double curved, the imposed deformations lead to Here, the section’s inertia increased during the loading process
initial stresses, caused by bending and torsion moments, and because of the structure’s capacity to be deformed. Such
specific questions arise for which quantitative answers can observations open very exciting perspectives for the utility of
be determined. Which radius is required? Which curvature structural optimisation processes.
can be accepted? An empirical approach, using a series of
physical models, is applied to address such questions. The The Imagined and the Material
further structural investigations necessary are based on these Architectural production over the past decade has been marked
preliminary observations. by a strong affection for the image. The seductive aesthetics
In this context, the question of scale is essential. Various of digital architectural modelling and visualisation have often
questions related to the material used arise while proceeding dominated over attention towards materiality and building
with such scale jumps from small models to building scale. It construction. Ambivalent images were, and still are, produced
is therefore important to obtain more knowledge about such with digital tools. They display architectural visions that
scale factors and how they affect the spatial and mechanical neglect the constraints of the physical laws and the constraints
behaviour of structures. It has been observed that at large scale, associated with building construction.1 Yet we know that
the prototypes are subject to a higher flexibility and dynamic architecture is not, and cannot be, just an image. It has become
sensibility. It is possible to define a specific, dynamic calculation evident that such proposals are extremely difficult to realise.
for a specific structure at a given scale. But it has not yet been It has also become evident that the potential of the computer
possible to define parameters that describe the optimisation as a planning and design tool has its limitations. In the same
of these structures through different scales while keeping time, innovative applications of non-digital means of design
every proportion the same. Furthermore, the underlying rules, have come to provide interesting alternatives.2 The approach
determining how such transitions occur or when they occur, applied in the IBOIS research goes beyond the aesthetics of an
are not yet identified. The study of this fascinating topic imagined reality. Materiality is actively involved in the design
involves a very precise recording of the changing behaviour process. The Textile Module is an intriguing first result and
and interaction of the basic elements of structural timber fabric encourages continuing the adopted direction. Its aesthetic
across the different scales. A profound examination of this and structural qualities have raised a wide range of questions,
phenomenon is crucial. many of which are still to be addressed. There appears to be
The first set of observations that need to be made are something remarkable in the interaction of the material and the
systematic comparisons between the initial structure and formal qualities that produces a distinguished quality of design.
the deformed structure for every given structural proposal or It is not clear whether the topological or tectonic properties
geometry. Geometrical and mechanical observations need to are a satisfying answer to this. It is perhaps the elevation of
be collected. The deformation process creates a specific stress materiality to a level of prominence in design and design
situation, which can be described as ‘initial stress’. Those research that can explain this intellectual resonance and its
parameters can be measured by means of computer simulation, implications for architecture as a material practice. 1
where the deformation process is modelled. The initial stress
Notes
situation can be established via measures taken directly on the 1. This was, for instance, the case with an image related to Dagmar Richter’s
physical prototype by stress-sensing elements. Once the initial DR_D lab project, The Living Museum: Pimp my Architecture (2005),
stress situation is known, various load cases can be performed published on the cover of AD Architextiles (Vol 76, No 6, 2006). Here, a
highly appealing image is presented, but one cannot understand how what is
giving more insight into the structural performance of a given shown could possibly be built, or materialised.
Timberfabric. The interaction of the curved elements occurs 2. A very interesting approach to this was proposed by Mark West in his
in such a way that it confers a specific rigidity to this type of article ‘Thinking With Matter’, published in AD Protoarchitecture (Vol 78, No
4, 2008).
structure even though the basic element seems to be quite
Text © 2010 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images © Markus Hudert, EPFL IBOIS
smooth. In pilot studies of prototypes, particular structural
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